1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal including Digital Multimedia Broadcasting phones (DMB phone), game phones, chatting phones, camera phones, MP3 phones, cellular phones, Personal Communication System phones (PCS phones), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and Hand Held Phones (HHP phones), and more particularly to a semi-automatic swing device for a swing-type portable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the term “portable terminal” refers to an electronic device that a user can carry with him/her while communicating with another user wirelessly. The portable terminal can perform wireless communication, for example a voice communication, a message transmission, a file transmission, and an image communication, as well as taking a picture. In addition, the portable terminal plays the role of a personal assistant to manage phone numbers and personal schedules.
On the other hand, in consideration of portability, design of such a portable terminal has tended not only toward compactness, slimness and lightness, but also toward providing multimedia capabilities to allow the user to pursue a wider variety of functions, for example, entertainment contents including games. In particular, future portable terminals will not only be multi-functional while still being compact and light, but will also be modified to be suitable for functioning in a multimedia environment including image communication, game, internet access, and camera functions, as well as for merely carrying out voice communication.
Conventional portable terminals may be classified into various types according to their appearance, such as bar-type portable terminals and folder-type portable terminals. The bar-type portable terminal has a single housing shaped like a bar, in which data input/output units, antenna, a transmitter, and a receiver, etc. are disposed. The folder-type portable terminal has a folder coupled to a single bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit so that the folder can be folded to or unfolded from the housing. Further, portable terminals may be classified as swing-type terminals according to ways of opening and closing the terminals. In the swing-type portable terminal, two housings are coupled while facing each other in a manner that one housing swings to be opened or closed relative to the other.
Korean Patent Application No. 2005-2330, filed by the present applicant, discloses a conventional swing device for a swing-type portable terminal.
However, the swing device disclosed in the above-mentioned Korean Patent Application No. 2005-2330 has a great number of parts, resulting in decreased assembling capacity. Therefore, there is disadvantage of high manufacturing costs. Although the portable terminal has tended toward slimness, the thickness of the swing device has not been reduced yet. Accordingly, it is difficult to improve the slimness of the swing device and the portable terminal employing the swing device.